Literature, Writing, and Research Skills

Language and Grammar Sites

• Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online - This is a dictionary, a Spanish-Englsh dictionary, and a thesaurus There is also a word of the day and word games.
• Merriam-Webster Visual Dictionary Online - A dictionary of images. This is a great help if you need to know what something like a mango or a tectonic plate looks like.
• NetLingo - An online dictionary of internet terms. There are also lists of smileys and text messaging abbreviations.
• Emojipedia- Emojis and their meanings.😀
• Bartleby.com - Classic books, poetry, reference books. This site is a treasure chest of great reading.
• Quotations - Look here if you need to search for quotations.
• A Beastly Garden of Wordy Delights - Look here if you need to know what a group of animals is called such as a pride of lions, or a quiver of cobras. There are also names for animal infants, animal adjectives, and snake jokes.
• Spark Notes - Online study guides for literary classics. Like Cliff Notes, but free.
• The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation - What to do about pronouns, commas, and other writing problems.
• Quiz Tree - There are quizzes here for ESL students and for those who are studying a foreign language, and for students preparing for the SAT's and GRE's.
• Wacky Web Tales - Fill in the blanks to create a silly story.
• Free Rice - Define words and send free rice to the hungry people of the world.

Authors and Books

Sites for Readers To Find New Books and Share What They Read

• KidsReads.Com - Keep up with what's new in the world of books. Find out about your favorite author and find new books to read.
• Book Hive - Find new books to read and enjoy the online activities.
• Stacks - From Scholastic. Find out more about your favorite Scholastic authors. There are games, too.
• TeenReads.Com - Reviews of new books for teenagers. This site also has author interviews.
• Teenspace - Reviews and book lists. You may submit your own reviews of books.
• Fantasy and Science Fiction - Lots of links to fantasy and science fiction web sites.
• Mystery - find out more about mystery novels and try writing a mystery story.
• Wands and Worlds - If you love Harry Potter, you may enjoy finding similar books at this web site which lists science fiction and fantasy books by topic.
• Book Adventure - Read books, win points.

Info About Books and Authors

• Avi
• The Oz Encyclopedia - Information on L. Frank Baum and the wonderful world of Oz.
• Meg Cabot
• Beverly Cleary - Find out more about the books and about your favorite characters.
• The Official Jean Craighead George Website
• Marcia Thornton Jones - Author of the Bailey School Kids books. She has some tips for young writers on her web site.
• Junie B. Jones - Series by Barbara Park.
• C. S. Lewis - The creator of the Narnia books.
  • Into the Wardrobe - The biography of C. S. Lewis.
• Stephanie Meyer - author of the Twilight books.
• Lucy Maud Montgomery - The author of the Anne of Green Gables books.
• Dav Pilkey - A silly site for the fans of the Captain Underpants books.
• J.K. Rowling
  • J. K. Rowling Official Site
  • The Harry Potter Lexicon - An encyclopedia of information on the Potter books. A must visit site.
  • Harry Potter - Info on the books and the author plus games to play.
• William Shakespeare
  • Shakespeare for Kids - Fun facts from the Folger Shakespeare Library.
• Lemony Snicket - This is the official web site.
• P. L. Travers - The author of the Mary Poppins books. If you have seen the movie Saving Mr. Banks, you may want to know more about this author.
• Authors, Authors - Look here for links to many authors' web sites. There are also tips to help you be a better writer.

Mythology and Folktales

• Greek Mythology - Lots of information about the Greek gods here.
• American Folklore - This site has all kinds of folk tales - tall tales, tales from various regions of America, historical folk tales, and more.
• Norse Mythology - This site has a lot of information about Norse gods and goddesses, and about the Vikings.
• Folk Legends of Japan

Poetry

• Representative Poetry Online - this site is great if you need anything relating to poetry. It has biographies of poets, a timeline, and lots of poems which you can search by title or by keyword.
• Young Writers Glossary of Poetic Terms
• Poetry Terms Flash Cards - Online help for learning poetry terms.
• The Favorite Poem Project - Listen to Americans read their favorite poems or submit your favorite.
• American and English Poetry, 1250 - 1920 - Need to find a poem for school? Here you can look by author, title or date.
• Shel Silverstein.Com - the official Silverstein web site.
• The Rhyme Zone - If you need to find rhyming words for a poem, this is a place to go.
• Poetry for Kids - links to more poetry web sites.

Help with Writing Reports

Go Back: Virtual Middle School Library Home / Web Sites for Students Menu /Help with Writing Reports

How to write the paper including doing the dreaded bibliography

• Study Guides and Strategies - There is a lot here to help you become a better student and a better writer and researcher.
• Study Skills for Students - Improve your grades by improving how you study. This site is by Education Corner.
• Writing Skills - There are helpful hints here for writing a better essay, book report, and research paper.
• A Research Guide for Students - Tips for writing a research paper.
• Six Ways to Avoid Plagiarism in Research Papers - Don't just copy somebody else's work.
• How to Avoid Plagiarism - Helpful information from WikiHow.
• Free Book Notes - This site has a large collection of literature study guides, cliff notes, literature summaries, and more. If you are having trouble understanding a book, this is the place to find help.
• EasyBib - This site will do your bibliography for you. All you need to do is to type in the necessary information.
• Citing Medicine - this is a style guide for writing citations in your bibliography. It includes instuctions for books, magazine, CD's and internet sites.

Where to look for more information

• Homework Spot - Links to useful web sites, plus news and special articles.
• Kids Click - A subject directory for the Internet.
• Information Please Almanac - Online almanac with information on countries, states, people, sports and many other things.
• Cliff Notes - These are not a substitute for doing your own work, but they can offer a great deal of help with subjects or books that you do not understand.